The present invention relates to document generation systems and, more particularly to a system incorporating user-modifiable document structures or "boiler-plates", a database including information to be placed into a particular document structure, and a computing device which combines the particular document structure with relevant information stored in the database to form a document.
Traditionally, the practice of dictating and transcribing has been used to record information related to interviews, personal reminders, thoughts on a subject, and drafts or letters of other documents. In the service industries, such as consulting, legal and medical fields, professionals have been increasingly burdened by the need to document every encounter with clients or patients. This is particularly true in the medical field where physicians must record information about each patient office visit, diagnosis, suggested treatment and prescription given. In addition to recording patient information, physicians must fill out forms for submission to insurance companies and provide information to regulatory agencies. To gather and produce all of this information, physicians must spend a significant portion of their work day dictating the needed information for each record or form. Further, a physician must maintain a staff to transcribe the information into reports and to fill out required forms.
A physician typically dictates a report on each patient encounter which, subsequently, must be typed by a transcriptionist. The process is time consuming and repetitive. For this reason, shortcuts are often taken causing reports to be incomplete. As a result, potential legal and insurance problems as well as reduced quality of patient care can occur. Using traditional manual methods of record keeping, patient data is not readily available for fast and easy review. A patient's medical record cannot be easily combined with other reports or other patient data for analysis and reporting.
In response to the above-mentioned needs and problems encountered in the medical field, the present invention was developed. The present invention automates the documentation process by providing a computer-based documentation system incorporating a relational database with a multi-document word processor preferably comprising a graphics engine within a menu-driven, graphic window environment. The documentation system utilizes previously defined document structures or "boiler-plates" to manage patient reporting. A document structure offers a framework within which certain items will vary.
For instance, an initial exam conducted by an orthopedic surgeon will contain many basic elements common to all patients, but response to the exam will vary for each patient. A report to be input can contain any number of variable responses, and each variable within the input report can offer any number of different options from which to choose. In addition, a physician can personalize the report, modifying or creating new documents to suit a particular situation. Further, while generating a particular document, a physician can customize the document by inserting words into the generated document through the use of the integrated word processor.
In an alternative embodiment, the physician can avoid directly using the documenting system by utilizing printed checklists. After a checklist has been filled out by a physician, another individual can generate the desired documents from items checked off on the checklist.
The data input into the documenting system is electronically stored for possible future use in reporting and/or analysis. The future uses may include graphical analysis, cost accounting, time reporting and other desired document generation.
It will be appreciated by those familiar with the art that such a document generation system can be utilized in a plurality of environments including medical, legal, government, insurance and other service or document generating environments. In the legal field, simple contracts, licenses or agreements could be drafted in this manner. In the government, routine status reports, procurement requests or inspection reports could be produced by such a system. In the insurance field, insurance applications could be processed, policies maintained, or claim reports prepared. These and other possible areas of use of the present invention will become apparent after reading the following detailed description.